title: Anterior-posterior patterning in early development: three strategies.
abstract: The anterior-posterior (AP) axis is the most ancient of the embryonic axes and exists in most metazoans. Different animals use a wide variety of mechanisms to create this axis in the early embryo. In this study, we focus on three animals, including two insects (Drosophila and Tribolium) and a vertebrate (zebrafish) to examine different strategies used to form the AP axis. While Drosophila forms the entire axis within a syncytial blastoderm using transcription factors as morphogens, zebrafish uses signaling factors in a cellularized embryo, progressively forming the AP axis over the course of a day. Tribolium uses an intermediate strategy that has commonalities with both Drosophila and zebrafish. We discuss the specific molecular mechanisms used to create the AP axis and identify conserved features.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. kimelman@uw.edu
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kimelman
authors.forename: Benjamin L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014231:Tribolium / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018398:Homeodomain Proteins